The five most interesting points made at Obama’s press conference on the economy

3. Obama admitted his mistakes (sort of).

On the stimulus: “It worked. It just hasn’t done as much as we need it to do.”

On his promise to change the way Washington works: “If you’re asking why haven’t I been able to create a greater spirit of cooperation in Washington, I think that’s fair. I’m as frustrated as anybody by it … Are there things that I might have done during the course of 18 months that would, you know, at the margins have improved some of the tone in Washington? Probably.” Obama blamed Republican opposition and “deeply entrenched” special interests for the gridlock and partisanship, but then ended his answer to the question by blaming philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans.

On his promise to close Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba within a year of taking office: “We have succeeded on delivering a lot of campaign promises that we made. One where we’ve fallen short is closing Guantanamo. I wanted to close it sooner. We have missed that deadline. It’s not for lack of trying. It’s because the politics of it are difficult.”

4. Obama talked about economic certainty, but thinks  the middle class rather than businesses needs help with the problem.

The president was not asked by any of the 13 journalists on whom he called about the argument from business leaders that his policies have made prospects for investment and expansion more uncertain, slowing job creation. But Obama was clearly aware of the uncertainty argument, using the word “certainty” a few times when asked about the fight over whether to extend all of the Bush tax cuts. Obama wants to let the cuts expire for individuals earning more than $200,000 a year, and families bringing in $250,000 annually. He argued that Republicans should work with him to extend cuts for all tax brackets except the top earners, indicating that would alleviate uncertainty.

“We could this month give every American certainty and tax relief up to $250,000 a year. Every single American would benefit from that,” Obama said. “Let’s give certainty to families out there that are having a tough time.”

It’s unlikely that the president does not understand the argument from business that it’s large, medium and small business that most badly say they need certainty to be able to plan budgets for the future. His argument that the top bracket debate should be go on after the lower bracket cuts are extended is both detached from likely legislative reality – the cuts expire at the end of the year – and would do nothing to resolve uncertainty for many businesses.

5. Obama continued the pattern of conventionality he has established for calling on journalists at press conferences, going with mostly establishment media.

The president sparked much buzz in his first ever White House press conference when he called on the liberal Huffington Post, hardly a fixture in the establishment media, especially at the time. But since then he has grown increasingly more conventional in choosing his interlocutors.

On Friday, Obama called on reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters, CBS News, Bloomberg, NBC News, the Washington Post, Haaretz, ABC News, American Urban Radio Network, the New York Times, ABC Radio, CNN and Fox News, in that order. The one surprise was Natasha Mozgovaya of Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper and website. But Obama has regularly called on one foreign press reporter at each press conference, guaranteeing himself a question on a foreign policy topic that he wants to talk about.

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